Christchurch councillor urges people to look beyond the multi-million price tag on Koukourarata/Port Levy water supply

Wednesday, 10 June 2026

Supplying drinking water to 45 homes and a marae in a Banks Peninsula settlement will cost Christchurch ratepayers between $5.7m and $16m - that’s up to $355,000 per household.

But city councillor Tyrone Fields says the issue is about the council meeting its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi and it should not be looked at as a cost per household.

For more than a century Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata has called for its Port Levy-based pā to be connected to the reticulated drinking water system.

The marae uses treated rainwater and homes in the settlement use rainwater and spring water, but supply is limited during dry periods and the rūnanga says a number of its whānau have become unwell.

Some households were also relying on stream water, which contained farming contaminants including nitrates and sediment, Christchurch City Council staff said.

The council has been investigating water supply options for Koukourarata/Port Levy since 2022 and on Tuesday staff presented four options to councillors at a briefing.

One involves drilling a bore at a cost of $5.7m, but there was no guarantee a reliable water source would be found and owners of the preferred site were unsupportive of selling the land or leasing it to the council.

Another option is using seawater and building a desalination plant and water storage at a cost of $9.2m.

The third option would see the bay connected to the Diamond Harbour water supply via a 10 to 12km pipe. This was the most expensive option at $16m, but staff said it was also the most resilient, reliable and would be simple to operate.

Staff also pointed out that over 60 years, the pipeline was the cheapest option at $22.93m, compared to $25m for the bore and $38m for the desalination.

Staff were also considering the status quo.

The pipeline was mana whenua’s preferred option, the council said.

The council has $10.8m currently budgeted for the work.

Fields asked if the pipeline could follow the traditional track straight over the hill, which was about 6km, but staff said construction would be challenging because it was so steep.

Fields said he felt “quite uncomfortable” when the conversation was framed around the number of houses per connection.

“This is about meeting our obligations under Te Tiriti. End of story.”

Mananui Ramsden, a former chairman of Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata, who lives in the bay, said there needed to be a commitment and an outcome soon.

“This has been going on for 130 years.”

Ramsden, Labour’s Te Tai Tonga candidate, said Māori were forced off their traditional boundaries and forced into reserves, and then left without any infrastructure.

It was a human right to have access to drinking water, he said.

As of 2024, Ngāi Tahu said about one third of its marae across the South Island lacked reticulated water supplies.

Ramsden said it made him feel good to hear options had been presented, but he was not happy to hear the council say it would only serve 45 properties.

A reticulated water supply would serve thousands of people, he said.

Koukourarata was one of the main centres of Ngāi Tahu.

Koukourarata/Port Levy resident Margie Newton said most people were self-sufficient with water, but when it came to supply, the bay could be split in half into the wet side and the dry side.

On the wet side most residents had access to springs but on the dry side there were few springs and people were reliant on rain water, which often ran out. The marae is on the dry side.

“It’s much more important for that side of the bay to get water.

“I think the council has an obligation to make sure that we have a safe drinking water supply if there is one available, but I understand about costs and you can’t have everything.”

Staff will report back to the council in August to seek direction on a preferred option.